Links to the Present: No. 9 Edition

Some links to give everyone some context on Luol Deng… First, Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago, on the relationship between Luol Deng and Tom Thibodeau.

Deng put in an inordinate amount of time trying to hone his game and get his body in shape to play heavy minutes. As time wore on, it became clearer that Thibodeau trusted Deng more than any other player on his roster. The veteran coach loved that he knew what he was getting from Deng each and every night. Deng just loved the fact that he had a coach that he trusted.

More from Friedell

If I had to sum up Bulls’ mood in one word after Deng deal it would be: sadness. Players and coaches emotional regarding fact Deng is gone.

Next Sam Smith, Blogger for Bulls.com, and a long time beat writer for the Chicago Tribune, posted this piece on Deng’s Legacy with the Bulls.

But Deng should always be remembered proudly as someone who gave every bit of what he had for the team, was a model citizen and someone who made you feel proud to watch and enjoy the NBA, a classy competitor who got as much out of his natural ability as maybe anyone who ever played for the Bulls…

Deng also has played the fourth most amount of minutes for the franchise behind Jordan, Pippen and Sloan, all of whose jerseys have been retired, and Deng ends up among top 10 franchise leaders in 10 other categories, including steals, blocks, rebounds and three pointers. This season was Deng’s eighth consecutive opening day start, two behind alltime leader Sloan. And Deng was one of just 10 players in franchise history to play for more than one All-Star team. He was one of a dozen to be on an all-defensive team and was the only player in franchise history to win the league’s sportsmanship award…

Deng, a refugee from Sudan who grew up in England, played for the Great Britain Olympic basketball team and has been the Bulls regular representative in the NBA’s Basketball without Borders program that brings the game around the world and provides international help. Deng with his foundation travels the world in the summer doing clinics and charitable work. Even in recent days in Chicago he was awarding fans prizes for contributions to his work with Chicago food pantries. No one among the Bulls has ever been a more community and worldwide involved citizen. He’s been honored by the United Nations, the league’s community assist award and the Bulls Lubin award for community service.

For all of Deng’s character, he was not treated very well by the Bulls organization, in fact, they literally almost killed him. The spinal tap leaked, and team doctors traveled to Miami, leaving Deng in the hospital. According to RealGM.com, this became an issue during extension negotiations.

The Bulls issued the spinal tap to test for viral meningitis, and sources at the time indicated Deng complained of his post-procedure care, which featured unfamiliar doctors, no visits from team personnel and the lack of a private hospital room.

And yet, Deng forgave them and still negotiated in good faith with the Bulls. The Cavs would be hard pressed to find a better player to represent the team and the city of Cleveland on and off the court.

In the trade game, Grant is strong: he landed the pick he surrendered for Deng by taking the Kings’ now-retired GM Geoff Petrie to the woodshed…

But Grant has been so awful in the draft and free agency to date that his team has remained irrelevant. The Deng move is a last gasp to reverse that, to boost Cleveland into the playoffs this season and build enough goodwill to build on it going forward.

Also, this little nugget…

One consideration w/ Luol Deng is he’s represented by same agent, Herb Rudoy, as Z. Cavs probably gauged his willingness to re-sign already.

Finally, the Plain Dealer is tweeting that the Cavs are trying to get Deng to town, but the weather and late timing of the trade are not helping. Regardless, Deng will not play tonight, but Kyrie Irving participated in the shootaround today.

13 Responses to “Links to the Present: No. 9 Edition”

The Sam Smith comments only confirm what I felt about Deng: a great basketball player and an even greater human. It may take some time for him to gel with his new squad but this team will be good. How good? I dunno, but we’ll make the playoffs and be a tough out this year, I think. Excited about the Cavs again!

I hate seeing the other teams PG have a career night in some offensive category about every other game against the Cavs. It’s getting ridiculous. Glad they won. Glad CJ went off! Hopefully Demg is able to infusing more than stats into this team though.

LOVED this game!!! That’s the way to move the ball and Varejao repeated that often tonight. Could care less about their PG. He had most of their pts and they lost. Don’t want to go back to that…. Now let’s get an Ohio State Win for a complete night!! In Overtime….

My biggest pet peeve is ‘could care less.’ It is couldn’t. Another one I’ve never understood is ‘heads over heels …’ Shouldn’t that be heels over head? I mean head of heels is just normal. Wow, hello tangent.

Anyways, good game all around for the most part. Can’t expect 10 3s from CJ anytime soon. Deng will bring quite a presence with him and will shore up some of the defensive woes. Hoping he can help get Kyrie’s defense in order.

Yeah, let’s complain about Kyrie. He almost cost us the game with his 16/8 and 3 blocks on 66% shooting in 30 min (MCW played 37). The points that MCW scored while Kyrie was on the bench are still his fault because he should’ve stared him down from the bench.

It’s been awhile since a player was traded in the NBA and the city/team losing him was this upset. That’ a phenomenal sign. The Cavs are seriously getting one of the better people in the league. I can’t wait to watch him and Andy.

Not all that worried that he bolts after the season. He doesn’t seem like the typical NBA player. Also after his scar with the effed up spinal tap, a teams medical provider will probably matter to him and Cleveland Clinic is top shelf.

That was a great game for this young team. They looked they were having fun for the first time this year. It won’t always be this easy (Sixers shot like high schoolers) but if they pass the ball it will be easier. Adding Deng to the mix should only increase the unselfishness and dynamism.

BTW, I wonder how much of the team’s energy was related to the trade. When management decides it’s time to start winning, I think it fires up the players.

Great win, love the energy and ball movement. Bennett looked laughably bad last night in extended minutes…first time Ive seen the kid actually give up on the floor. Hes gonna be a beast on the glass and a decent defender but his offense is a trainwreck right now. The whole time Im watching him im thinking…”OK Nate, fire away!”

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Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

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